The new ASUS EN8600GTS/HTDP/256M is a high-end graphics card that will be released and bundled with the much anticipated first person shooter game S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadows of Chernobyl. Equipped with 256MB of DDR3 memory and able to support NVIDIA's SLI technology, the EN8600GTS is designed with the gamer's graphics expectations in mind. With such high-end specifications, this graphics card has earned the accolade of being the official global bundle partner of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. In line with this, ASUS's G1 gaming series notebook - testament to its gaming-oriented design, also features in the S.T.A.L.K.E.R game itself.

Asustek is quite successful with their ASUS notebook lineup built by their own notebook manufacturing unit Asusalpha. For some companies the reason for this is crystal clear. You should know that companies like Dell, Apple, Sony and Toshiba don't have the capacities to manufacture their notebooks, gaming consoles and whatnot themselves. So they order them from companies like Asustek (PS3), Asusalpha (iBook), Hon Hai Precision Industry aka Foxconn Electronics (Mac mini, Power Mac series) or Quanta (Powerbook 17"). With that in mind it sounds quite logical that Asustek's notebooks are that successful - ASUS started to compete against its own clients and enjoys great economies of scale with that.
Dell now demands Asustek to spinoff its own notebook brand unit until Q1 2008 or they will hire another manufacturer. Apple's orders end this November with new ones still in question and Toshiba is limiting it's orders in the future. That said Asusalpha's future doesn't look that bright it seems. The question is if the total separation from Asustek is the right way to counter that trend. Source: Digitimes and X-bit labs

C-Media Electronics should see stronger profits and sales in 2007 amid the anticipated royalty gains following the announcement of Asustek Computer's new Xonar D2X high-end audio cards. Asustek plans to ship 500,000 Xonar D2X audio cards which adopt C-Media's solutions in 2007 after seeing satisfactory sales following the card's introduction at CeBIT 2007 in Hannover, Germany. The audio card, which will primarily target the gaming market, features 3D sound processing and supports Dolby Digital Live, DTS and 5.1 surround sound. C-Media is reported to earn US$10-20 for each Xonar D2X Asustek sells. If Asustek reaches its target of shipping 500,000 units in 2007, or 100,000 units per month, the design house can expect royalty payments to reach US$5-10 million. More information about the ASUS Xonar D2X sound card can be found here.

On Aug 8, 2006, GIGABYTE and ASUS together announced they have entered into a joint venture to produce GIGABYTE branded motherboards and graphics cards. A spokesman of GIGABYTE said a resolution of the board of directors was passed on the Mar 22 to call off the plan of forming joint venture. It's explained the confusion of clients and suppliers, together with the changes of both internal and external factors has lead to this hard decision. In the present environment, the necessity of forming joint venture is no longer as strong as expected, and thus suspension is the best solution for both shareholders, said GIGABYTE's spokesman. Although the joint venture has given up, GIGABYTE intends to keep its move on transferring part of its businesses onto the new subsidiary, meaning that a new GIGABYTE brand will come out soon after all.

Taipei, Taiwan, March 22, 2007 - To provide users with a compact sized CPU cooling solution, ASUS has announced the Arctic Square CPU cooler. This compact cooler incorporates innovative features, including double side fins, dynamic fan speed control and four copper heat pipes in order to deliver efficient heat dissipation for the latest quad-core processors. With a small cooler size, the Arctic Square is widely compatible with many motherboards and chassis. The Arctic Square offers quiet performance and a unique design with a blue LED, providing a peaceful computing environment and a stylish system interior.

ASUS has introduced the new TS-8 slim chassis series to accommodate users who want a stable and flexible chassis solution. With its compact dimensions and the ability to dissipate heat efficiently, the TS-8 is a perfect mini PC addition to smaller homes and offices.

Fudzilla reports that ASUS will have a wide variety of products to show at CeBIT.

First off, there will be notebooks:The VX2 notebook from the Lamborghini line will be available for viewing. The W5Fe will make an appearance, as as the world's first SideShow notebook.

Also from the notebook department, there is the ultra-portable U1F, weighing in at less than 1kg:Next, two monitors will be presented:The LS201 20 inch LCD monitor that provides slim elegance. The display has a jewel-class glass for both aesthetical and protective reasons, so it won't be scratched ever again. It has a contrast ratio of 2000:1. The other one is more interesting, of course because it supports HDCP function with DVI input. It is a 22 inch wide-screen with a 16:10 screen ratio, and it has a fast 2ms Response Time.

For overclocking gadgets and a watercooled GeForce 8800, click below.

ASUS showcases the W1 and W2 notebook series with HD-DVD high-definition solution at CeBIT this year that will dramatically raise expectations of visual and audio satisfaction. Incorporated with Toshiba's HD DVD-R optical drive, the W1 and W2 notebooks can read discs with up to 30GB of data, including video, photo and music all from a single HD DVD disc. The HD DVD-R optical drive also plays HD DVD movies at a resolution that is six times sharper than the DVD format, presenting a vibrant, incredibly sharp and state-of-art multimedia experience. The W1 and W2 series offer an all-round high-definition experience with built-in digital TV tuner and HDMI interface, supporting standard, enhanced, or high-definition video, plus muti-channel digital audio on a single cable.

You are bored by the glossy plastic notebooks from Apple or these shiny metal covered laptops which you have to polish everytime you put a finger onto the surface? Then you might be the type of a person who prefers a wooden texture. The people at c|net got the opportunity to play with the Asus EcoBook which you can buy sometime next year. I was really amazed by the details of the wooden panels. These panels are changeable in case they get scratched and of course they are biodegradable.

A day after news about ATI's Lasso mobile-GPU technology, DailyTech has published an article highlighting more details about ASUS' XG Station.

The XG Station should be available to OEM and channel partners from next month. What is perhaps most interesting is the way that ASUS plans to sell these devices - they will not be purchasable separately, but will come bundled with the company's PCIe graphics cards. Pricing on XG Stations will vary depending on the bundled graphics card. There is no word on which graphics cards will be compatible and which won't - though squeezing in a 8800 GTX might be asking for a little too much.

In addition to the enhanced video capabilities, the XG Station features audio output capabilities. There is a single headphone output jack on the XG Station - unfortunately, there is no 5.1 output support. However, the XG Station supports Dolby Headphone technology for simulated six-channel surround sound audio.

Audio and video capabilities aside, ASUS equips the XG Station with a large LED display to monitor vital system information. The LED display shows the following information:

• System master volume
• GPU clock speed
• Current GPU temperature
• Dolby Headphone feature status
• Current actual Frames Per Second (FPS) information
• GPU fan speed Indicator

A control knob allows users easy overclocking controls too. Overclocking functionality of the control knob is limited to GPU core clock only though.

The ASUS P5NT WS is built on the NVIDIAC55+MCP55PXE chipset structure which supports a LGA775 Socket for running Intel Dual-core/Quad-core CPUs with 1333/1066/800 MHz FSB and two NVIDIA SLI graphic cards with Dual x16 speeds on the same platform. This allows the user to enjoy the best CPU and graphics for the system build. With the addition of the PCI-X interface, the P5NT WS motherboard provides much more options in I/O configurations for SOHOs and power users to custom-build their ideal working or entertainment environment.

ASUS launched today the EN8800GTX AquaTank graphics card equipped with innovative all-in-one watercooling, which improves the cooling with up to 12°C compared to a generic GF8800GTX cards. The EN8800GTX AquaTank/HTDP/768M video cards come factory overclocked to 630Mhz core and 2.06GHz (1030MHz DDR3) memory clocks. Click here to learn more about the card itself.

ASUS has introduced two new widecreen LCD monitors the MW221U and MW201U, sharing 1680 x 1050 resolution, 700:1 contrast ratio, support for HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection) and Microsoft Windows Vista Certification. The MW221U and MW201U both incorporate ASUS's exclusive Trace Free Technology, which accelerates response time to 2ms to enable smooth video quality without ghosting and video delays. Both monitors display 16.7 million colors and adopt ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology for more spectacular Vista experiences making the MW221U and MW201U the best choices for visually upgrading the system.

ASUS has just released new BIOS updates that enable 1333MHz front side bus(FSB) support for all of its motherboards based on Intel 965 chipset. ASUS 965 motherboards need simple BIOS tweaking to support Intel's next generation 1333FSB Conroe E0 CPUs. New BIOSes are available for ASUS P5B Deluxe / P5B Deluxe/WiFi-AP Release BIOS 1004, ASUS P5B Release BIOS 1007, ASUS P5B-E Release BIOS 0904, ASUS Commando Release BIOS 0801 (BETA!). Please, refer to ASUS web page if you're not familiar with BIOS preflashing.

With the release date of Windows Vista drawing ever closer, ASUSTek Computer Inc. (ASUS) is now offering 4 motherboard models that are designed especially for the new operating system. Packed with ASUS special features like ScreenDUO, AI Remote, AP Trigger, TPM and ASAP (ASUS Accelerated Propeller), ASUS is proud to be the first motherboard manufacturer in the industry to attain the Windows Windows Vista Premium logo. The four new models include: M2N32-SLI Premium Vista Edition, P5B Premium Vista Edition, M2N-Plus Vista Edition and P5B-Plus Vista Edition. For more information on the new motherboards, please visit the company homepage.

Taipei, Taiwan, January 22, 2007 - To accommodate the increasing demand on better graphic performance for mobile computing, ASUS presents the A8Jr notebook series incorporated with the latest visual processing capabilities. The slim and lightweight A8Jr will be based on Intel's Core2 Duo processor and will be the world's first notebook series to utilize ATI's Mobility Radeon X2300 GPU for stunning and crisp graphics.

"There is an ever-increasing demand for higher graphic processing power and crisper graphics for entertainment and applications alike," says David Cummings, director of marketing, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "Our answer to that demand is the X2300 GPU. This GPU utilizes patented technology to increase processing power and provide the user with smooth, realistic hi-resolution graphics."

Earlier today ASUS announced its Lamborghini VX2 notebook and specs have now been released about its W6Fp notebook. Both of these new models feature leather palm rests, something quite uncommon in the notebook market, and both are expected to have impressive specs. Although ASUS wasn't too precise on the VX2 specs, it's been revealed that the W6Fp features a 13.3" screen, a 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo processor, up to 1.5GB of memory, a 120GB hard drive, Intel 945GM Express graphics, a multi DVD drive and Vista Home Premium as the default OS. It will also be equipped with Bluetooth and WiFi and should be released at the end of the month for just over $2000.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), a leading provider of high-performance notebook computers, today announced the next generation of the ASUS-Lamborghini notebook series - the VX2. Based on the latest Intel Centrino Duo Mobile Technology and Microsoft Windows Vista operation system, the handsome supernote offers brand new capabilities in security, performance, reliability, and manageability for a powerful computing experience.

Sapphire will not be the only one with a dual X1950 Pro card out there. Asus is working on one as well. The design is completely different and sports two PCBs which are connected, instead of packing everything on a single board. The EAX1950 Pro Dual clocks the Radeon X1950 Pro GPUs at 581MHz and 256MB of GDDR3 memory at 1404MHz. No price or release date has been mentioned.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), showcases the following products at CES 2007.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), a leading provider of high-performance notebook computers, today introduced a whole new way to mobile computing with the revolutionary W5Fe series. The compact 12" wide notebook with cutting-edge SideShow, external auxiliary display on the LCD cover, offers high mobility with quick and easy data access convenience. Known for its strong engineering strength, ASUS once again takes the lead into the new Vista era.

ASUS has announced that it is planning a dedicated external graphics card system designed for notebook users, named the XG Station, which should allow users to experience high end graphics power to match desktops. The dock connects to the ExpressCard interface using an adaptor, meaning it can be easily unplugged from the system if it needs to be moved. ASUS has revealed it will work with any notebook featuring the ExpressCard system, which provides an equivalent to the PCI Express X16 slots desktops use. The XG Station itself features a PCI Express slot and is capable of running AMD (ATI), NVIDIA and Matrox graphics cards.

Asustek Computer will showcase its XG Station, an audio-visual workstation for notebooks at the upcoming 2007 International CES in Las Vegas, according to the company. The XG Station, equipped with discrete graphics chips, Dolby output and USB 2.0, give users better graphics and audio-visual effects when connected to their notebooks, the company said. During CES, Asustek will also display its 12-inch W5Fe, a Vista SideShow-supporting notebook, and the G1 and G2 gaming notebooks, both equipped with discrete graphics chips.

ATI has teamed up with laptop-maker Asus to introduce a series of 'Ready for Vista' notebook graphics processors. There are three processors in the Mobility Radeon X1K family: the X1700, X1450 and X1350. Each of the processors has been designed to play high-definition(HD) video formats such as HD-DVD/H.264 and Blu-ray and support Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system. ATI's deal with Asus follows a similar deal with NVIDIA in recent weeks to use the GeForce Go 7700 chips in its ultra-portable AJ8 notebook series. Asus will use the ATI chips in its forthcoming Mobile TV, Mobility, Multimedia and Entertainment laptops. Longer battery life is a key component of the new processors, despite running faster than previous graphics processors. They will use the Powerplay 6.0 power management technology, which allows the chips to automatically adjust the balance between performance and power consumption based on the workload.

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS), the worldwide leader of motherboards, today introduced the Commando, a new addition to its R.O.G (Republic of Gamers) family of gaming motherboards. The Commando provides extreme overclock ability for enhanced performance, and unique features to jazz up the gaming features and simplify the DIY process.